I recently traveled to Mauritius as a legal consultant to a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) project to support the African island nation's transition to organic farming.

I gave keynote address during an opening ceremony with the Mauritius Minister of Agro-Industry and Food Security, Mahen Seeruttun. I spoke about creating trust within an organic system through strong institutions and support for farmers.

I also provided a day-long training session to organic stakeholders and ministry officials on international organic agriculture law and best practices. Even better, I got to visit an organic vegetable farm and participate in meetings and a working group session designed to make initial decisions on the direction of the Mauritius legislation.

As a next step, I'll draft the framework for the new Mauritius organic agriculture law and travel to Mauritius in 2017 to work with stakeholders to finalize the new legislation.